Soli Deo Gloria
Things
have been rather topsy-turvy in the Abernethy household this past
week. As you may have
heard, my wife has slipped a disk in her lower back. She’s
been in a lot of pain, and her choices have been to sit in the
recliner and hurt, lie down in bed and hurt, or move back and
forth between recliner and bed and hurt. As a consequence, our
family routine has been shot to pieces and is pretty much
non-existent right now. It’s
amazing how an injury like this can turn your world upside down.
But
what we’re experiencing is indeed a minor inconvenience compared
to what the residents of
Southern California
have been dealing with. You’ve
all heard about the terrible wildfires that have been ravaging the
landscape there in
Southern California
. Hundreds of square
miles have gone up in smoke – over two thousand homes have been
destroyed – and the last I heard there had been 20 fatalities
that were a direct result of the fires.
Talk about having your world turned upside down – they
know what that’s like in the areas of
Los Angeles
and
San Diego
.
Things
such as my wife’s injury, the fires in
Southern California
, and the accidents, diseases and misfortunes that befall us
happen because we live in world far different from the world God
originally created. Creation
has been terribly disrupted by sin and God’s curse upon sin. In
Romans Paul explains this by saying that creation has been
subjected to vanity – futility – by God because He plans
ultimately to redeem and restore His creation.
But now we endure the disruption of a world that has not
yet witnessed the completion of its redemption.
Awful things such as forest fires, floods, earthquakes,
plagues and tornadoes are the bitter fruits of the Fall.
And it’s not just my household that’s affected, or your
household. All
creation has been turned topsy-turvy because of Adam’s sin.
The Bible makes that very plain.
That’s
why it’s foolish to assume the permanence of any earthly thing.
Because of God’s curse, the stuff of creation is
impermanent, transient. Things
wear out, run down, decay. Our
homes need continual maintenance to keep them from collapsing into
ruin. This beautiful building we’re meeting in is not going to
last forever. It’s
like Jesus told His disciples about the
Temple
in
Jerusalem
which they so greatly admired.
One day be torn down, so that not
one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown
down. The
automobiles we drive eventually rust out and break down.
Even the best of marriages are impermanent, to be ended by
the death of one of the partners.
Our bodies too, of course, are impermanent.
The effects of aging show on our faces and become more
evident in our body with every passing year.
Coronary artery disease, stroke, cancer, heart attack,
accident – these things and a thousand others stand poised to
bring our life in this world to and end.
The
Bible says that even the universe – vast though it is -- is
transient. Isaiah 34:4
in speaking of the end times says that one day all
the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll up like a
scroll. All their host
shall fall, as leaves fall from the vine, like leaves falling from
the fig tree. In
his 2nd Epistle, Peter says that at the
coming of the Day
of God. . . the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the
elements will melt with fire.
In the Gospel of St. Mark, our Lord Jesus Christ
Himself addresses the impermanence of the universe when He says
that prior to His return, the
sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and
the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the
heavens will be shaken. Plainly,
this universe in which we live is less than permanent.
God promises in today’s epistle that just as His voice
shook the earth when He gave His holy Law to Moses at Sinai, so He
will shake not only the earth but also the heavens, when He brings
the curtain down on the last day.
That
day will be both a day of judgment and a day of deliverance.
Judgment for unbelievers, those who’ve rejected God’s
free gift of forgiveness and mercy in the Gospel of His dear Son.
Judgment for those who live for this world to the neglect
of the world to come. James
says that friendship with the world is
enmity with God. Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the
world makes himself an enemy of God.
Those who take as their own the values of corrupt
world system in rebellion against God shall perish along with the
world they befriended.
But
for the Christian, the end of this world has a vastly different
meaning. It means our
final deliverance. Deliverance
from sin. Deliverance
from pain and sorrow. Deliverance
from death. For the
Christian the prospect of the end of the world is one of hope and
joy, something to be longed for.
That’s why Jesus says to His people in St Luke 21:28:
Now
when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads,
because your redemption draws near.
As the early Church prayed: Maranatha.
Come quickly, Lord!
We
who have been baptized into Christ Jesus are
[in the words of today’s epistle] receiving
a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
It is a kingdom guaranteed by the death and
resurrection of our Lord Jesus.
Unlike every earthly kingdom, Christ’s kingdom can never
pass away. It will
withstand the assaults of unbelieving men, of the devil and all
his legions, and of temporal decay.
We entered this kingdom through our Baptism in the Name of
the Triune God. And
this kingdom is present among us now.
But
where is it? Is it up
in the choir loft beneath the organ bench, or behind the banners
adorning our walls? Is
it in the offering plates which will be passed along in just a few
minutes? Is it in the
church offices? Where
is the
kingdom
of
God
in our midst?
I’ll
tell you where it is. It’s
there at the font where new children of God are made in Holy
Baptism. It’s here
in this pulpit where the Gospel of Christ’s victory over sin,
death and hell is proclaimed to you.
It’s present in your Savior’s words of forgiveness when
I as your pastor absolve your sins.
It’s in your hands and mouth as you take and eat and
drink your Savior’s true Body & Blood in the Sacrament of
the Altar. Where
Christ is present to bring you His forgiveness, life and
salvation, there also is the
kingdom
of
God
. And Christ is indeed
present with His Church, even to the end of the age, in the Means
of Grace, through which He lavishes upon His people His love and
mercy and saving grace.
There
is the
kingdom
of
God
in your midst. The kingdom is hidden, true.
It’s visible only to the eye of faith, which detects that
kingdom concealed in the Means of Grace.
But the kingdom is nonetheless real, nonetheless present,
nonetheless enduring. When
our Lord returns, it shall become visible.
Then our status as sons of God thru faith in XR shall also
be revealed. But now,
in this present world, we walk by faith, not by sight. We
believe that which we cannot now see so that we may one day see
that which we have believed. We
are but strangers here. Heaven
is our home. 2nd
Peter
3:13
says: In
keeping with God’s promise we are looking forward to a new
heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.
By
God’s grace, through faith in His only begotten Son, you are
citizens of His eternal kingdom that cannot be shaken.
Colossians 3.1-4 speaks to us who have been raised to
newness of life thru Holy Baptism.
It says: If
then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are
above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that
are on earth. For
you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
When Christ who is your life
appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
Appearing
with Christ in glory: That’s
the goal of our Faith. And
keeping this goal in mind shapes the way we live out our lives as
God’s redeemed people. We seek the things that are above, the
heavenly things, as we pursue our daily vocations.
We know that our real identity is not of this world.
For in holy Baptism we died, and we know that our true
identity is that by grace we are God’s children.
It’s
all made possible by Jesus our Savior who willingly suffered shame
and degradation, pain, agony, and death on Cross to take away our
sins and make us citizens of His kingdom cannot be shaken.
That we might persevere in our faith He has given us
Christians His Means of Grace to strengthen us in His forgiveness
and mercy. Through the Sacrament of the Altar He gives us a
foretaste in this world of what He promises in the next.
In the Sacrament heaven comes down to earth as our Lord
Jesus Christ makes Himself present for us in His true Body and
Blood under the bread and wine.
Receiving these gifts we join with angels, archangels, and
all the company of heaven in worshipping the Triune God and
singing the praises of Him who made Himself a mortal creature so
that He might conquer death and in the resurrection of all flesh
might make us immortal.
This
is our strength and hope when things go awry in this world.
When earthly kingdoms totter and fall, when the temporal
things you looked to for comfort prove but a broken reed, when
your health fails or a loved one dies, be confident of this:
you are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
A kingdom of love, joy, peace, forgiveness, eternal
salvation. The kingdom
of our Lord Jesus Christ. He
is the sure foundation of this eternal kingdom.
It is anchored in His death for sin and His glorious
resurrection. It is a
kingdom that shall never pass away.
Gloria Patri. . .
